Indexing means for wall panel openings

ABSTRACT

Indexing apparatus for accurately marking and positioning indicia to enable cutouts to be formed in a panel in order to accommodate fixtures and other objects associated with a building structure which must be received within the cutouts when the panel is attached to the structure.

United States Patent Elkins et al.

[ 1 June 27, 1972 [541 INDEXING MEANS FOR WALL PANEL OPENINGS [72] Inventors: Johnny C. Elkins, PO. Box 387, Robert Lee, Tex. 76945; Gilbert A. Theriot, PO. Box 4030, San Angelo, Tex. 76901 22 Filed: Dec.2l, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 100,080

2,956,798 10/1960 Briggs ..33/DlG.l0

3,371,423 3/1968 Paul....' ..33/189 3,522,658 8/1970 Howell ..33/197 Primary ExaminerWilliam D. Martin, Jr. Attorney-Marcus L. Bates ABSTRACT Indeicing apparatus for accurately marking and positioning indicia to enable cutouts to be formed in a panel in order to accommodate fixtures and other objects associated with a building structure which must be received within the cutouts when the panel is attached to the structure 9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUW m2 I/VVENTOQ JOHNNY OELKINS and GILBERT ATHERIOT MARCUS LEATES THE/[Z FIGENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION ample, for a small investment in time and money, one can completely cover existing wall structure with an inexpensive, durable, and attractive paneling.

Occasionally an aperture or hole must be cut in a sheet of paneling to accommodate objects and fixtures, such as electrical outlets, a gas pipe, or the like. Proper alignment of the cutouts or holes with respect to each of these objects is often difficult, and a miscalculation in-placement of the cutout can spoil the appearance and render a panel unsuitable for its originally designated location. Such an error represents waste in material and time, and accordingly, an apparatus which is designed to properly index the exact location to cut an aperture or hole in a sheet of paneling in order to enable afixture to be received therein is desirable. Also desirable is that such a proposed means be simple in design and operation, rugged in construction, inexpensive to purchase, and accurate in application.

The term paneling" as used herein and throughout the specification and claims is intended to include all sheet-type building materials such as sheet rock, wall board, natural wood, linoleum, and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Broadly, this invention comprehends apparatus for indexing cutouts to be formed in a panel with respect to objects or fixtures which are to be received by the cutouts when the panel is afi'lxed to a structure.

More specifically, this invention comprehends a housing from which there depends a first and second measuring arm arranged 90 with respect to each other, with each am having an end portion adjustably disposed with respect to its distance from the housing. The housing forms an alignment means with respect to the object which is to be received by the cutout. A portion of the housing forms transferring or marking means by which indicia relating to the size and shape of the cutout to be formed can be placed on the panel.

A primary object of this invention is the provision of apparatus for accurately indexing the location of cutouts on paneling that is to be attached to structure.

Another object of this invention is the provision of apparatus for laying out cutouts on paneling to enable the cutouts to be indexed with respect to objects protruding from structure when the paneling is afi'ixed thereto.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of indexing means for ascertaining the relative location of an object associated with structure with respect to another part of the structure and for transferring this relative location onto a piece of paneling so as to enable a cutout to be effected in the paneling for the purpose of receiving the object therethrough, or alternatively for aligning the object therewith, when the paneling is attached to the structure.

The above objects are attained in accordance with the present invention by the provision of apparatus for indexing the location for forming openings in wall paneling as set forth in the above abstract and summary.

These and various other objects and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description and by referring to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of part of the interior of an enclosure means having structure forming the walls therein;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a sheet of paneling;

FIG. 3 is a plan view which sets forth one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary part cross-sectional view of the present invention showing the operative position of the invention with respect to an object;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of part of the apparatus seen in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 and shows another portion of the apparatus seen in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the apparatus seen in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a front plan view showing a second embodiment of this invention, and

FIGJ9 is a part cross-sectional view of the device disclosed in FIG. 8, with some parts thereof being shown in their operative position so as to better disclose the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings disclose structure 10 in the form of upstanding studs 1 l to which sheets of paneling 12 are to be attached. The upper and lower marginal terminal ends of the paneling will also be attached to structure forming the ceiling 13 and floor 14. A completed wall, generally indicated by numeral 15, terminates at comer 16. Electrical fixtures and other objects 17, 17', and 18 extend from the wall structure and toward or into the enclosure, and accordingly a panel 12' must have suitable cutouts 17'', 18 formed therein before the paneling can be suitably attached to the wall structure.

Edge portion 19 of panel 12' is to be fitted into close proximity of the comer 16 of the room. The lower edge portion 20 of the panel is to be fitted closely adjacent to the floor 14, with the before mentioned fittings and objects being received within the illustrated cutouts.

Figures 3-7 are illustrations of a first embodiment of the invention, which discloses indexing apparatus 21 having a housing 22 from which there depends a first measuring arm 23. The measuring arm is made up of a plurality of members 24 which may be folded back upon each other in the manner of an ordinary carpenters rule, the details of which are well known to those skilled in the art and accordingly need not be further emphasized.

A second measuring arm 25 extends from the housing in a direction which is normal to,or lateral to, or disposed to the first arm. The second arm is identical to the first arm and includes the individual components 26 which are pivoted together in series relationship. The outermost section 27 has a terminal end portion 26' which is turned 90 with respect to the remainder of the arm for engagement with an edge portion of a panel or abutted against structure. Terminal end 28' is identical to the end portion disclosed at 26'. The housing is made up of an outer plate member 29 which abuts an inner plate member 30, thereby disposing a rear wall 31 against which an object 32 (which for purposes of illustration is disclosed as being in the form of an electrical receptacle or switch box) can be received.

For the purpose of illustration, alignment means 33 are shown in the form of spaced apart pins and are arranged in a manner to allow the pins to be slidably received in each of the four corners formed by the box. This feature of the invention is illustrated in F IG. 7 by the dot-dashed lines which represent the inside peripheral wall of the electrical outlet box. Number 37 broadly illustrates that the housing body overlaps a standard electrical outlet box by a small amount.

The inside abutting faces of the adjacent plate members form an innerface at 34 which preferably is an air gap for the reason that edge portion 35 is slightly spaced apart from edge portion 36 by the arms located interiorly thereof.

Numeral 38 illustrates the manner in which a U-shaped groove having vertical side walls 39 forms a passageway through the housing when the outer plate member is properly joined to the inner plate member. Apertures 40 and 44 jointly receive screw 39 therethrough with wing nut 39' being threadedly received thereon so as to provide a break for releasably supporting the arms inside the housing. The U- shaped groove 41 extends through the inner plate member and includes vertical side walls 42 which define another passageway for receiving the second arm therethrough. Numeral 43 indicates that sufficient material is left on the inner plate member to form a well defined longitudinally extending shoulder. Aperture 44 is aligned with aperture 40 while numeral 45 indicates the countersunk head of bolt 39'.

The embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9 discloses a removable rectangular member 46 which can be used with either of the illustrated embodiments. The member has a conical shaped outwardly projecting guide 47, a limited portion of which can be received within a tubular member 18. Each spaced apart aperture 48 slidably receives one of the before mentioned pins 33 therethrough so as to enable the attachment 46 to be readily affixed to the rear of either of the embodiments disclosed herein.

The second embodiment of the invention particularly set forth in FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrates first and second measuring arms 49 and 50, respectively, each of which depend from a main housing 56 with one arm being arranged at right angles with respect to the remaining arm. Thumb screws 51, 52 respectively, provide a convenient means by which a brake means associated with each of the arms can be adjusted to releasably hold the arms in an extended or retracted position relative to the housing.

Screws 53 affix face plate 55 to the remainder of the housing. The face plate and housing are joined along the illustrated interface 54.

The before mentioned thumb screw head is attached to the depending end of shaft 57. An intermediate portion of the shaft is provided with screw threads which threadedly engage the illustrated passageway formed in the enlarged marginal edge portion of the cover or face plate. The brake shoe 58 is preferably made of a resilient material such as rubber or a rubber-like product which can be bonded to the terminal end of the shaft by conventional methods. The brake shoe, as seen in the drawings, is spaced apart from and superimposed in overlying relationship with respect to an intermediate portion 59 of the arm, with the intermediate portion of the arm being disposed within the housing. This intermediate portion of the arm accordingly lies closely adjacent to or is sandwiched inbetween the inner wall surface 60 and the brake shoe. Accordingly, it should now be apparent that a marginal portion of the arm is always releasably captured between the brakeshoe and an inside face of the rear wall of the housing.

The arms are preferably fabricated from a narrow strip of flexible metal, as for example, steel, with each arm extending through an aperture such as illustrated by the numeral 61. A tape container 62, 64 is affixed to the housing by any convenient means and receives its respective arm therein in a manner exemplified by a common flexible, roll-up type measuring tape, the details of which are well known to those skilled in the art.

OPERATION In operation, a sheet of paneling 12', which may be wood paneling, plastic-like material, wall board, or the like, is to be placed in the illustrated position seen at 12 in FIG. 1. Objects such as an electrical receptacle box 17 and a gas outlet protrude from the structure. Accordingly, it is necessary to form the cutouts prior to affixing the panel to the wall studs.

Heretofore it has been necessary to measure horizontally and vertically from adjacent structure, as for example, the comer and the floor to determine the exact location to place the cutouts, that is, to properly index the cutouts with the structure, fixtures, and the paneling. By the present invention, cutout 17" is formed by merely extending terminal end 28' of the indexing device into contact with the comer while extending terminal end 26' into contact with the floor, and simul taneously inserting the four spaced apart pins within the box 17 in the illustrated manner of FIG. 4. The wing nut on the brake means 39 is tightened to securely fasten the arms within the housing. When the arms are accurately locked by the brake means the housing is placed on the paneling 12' by positioning terminal ends 26' and 28 adjacent edge portions 19 and 20, respectively, and then scribing or drawing the outline of the housing onto the panel by simply running a pencil point about the outer periphery of the housing. This procedure provides approximately one-eighth inch of overlap about the outer periphery of the box, or an amount as seen indicated by the dot-dashed lines at 32 in FIG. 7.

In the above instance, it will be noted the housing was rotated clockwise or alternatively, the arm 23 and outer plate member reversed with respect to the inner plate member so as to extend terminal end 28' into proximity of comer 16. This was accomplished by loosening the wing nut on the brake means to allow the outer plate to be rotated 180 with respect to the inner plate member.

To accurately index cutout 18 the centering device 46 is attached to the housing in the illustrated manner of FIG. 9; the conical portion of the member is aligned with the inside marginal end portion of the pipe 18; the arms extended to structure in the before described manner; and the brake means set or locked. The housing is then accurately positioned onto the panel which is to receive the cutouts. The housing, in this particular instance, is pressed with sufficient force to slightly embed conical member 47 into the panel surface, thereby indexing the center of the precise location at which to form the rough cutout. The cutout is easily formed in the paneling by a drill motor having an annular saw attached thereto.

In the operation of the embodiment set forth in FIGS. 8 and 9, the housing is placed adjacent to the object to be received by the desired cutout and the flexible rolled-up arms are pulled from their respective openings the required amount. The thumb screws are next set to force the brake shoes into engagement with the intermediate portion of the arms. The pressure exerted on the arms by the rear wall of the housing and the brake shoes securely locks the arms in the extended position. The indexing means may now be placed on the panel as described above and the housing position suitably marked to facilitate accurately forming the cutout.

Assembly, disassembly, and repair of the apparatus seen in FIGS. 8 and 9 can be effected by several different expedients. For example, it may be desirable to make the rear face removable rather than the front face, in order to facilitate assembly of the unitary tape assembly 62, 64. By making the rear plate removable, the aperture 61 will be in the fonn of a U-shaped channel prior to afiixing the rear plate thereto. The brake means can be assembled by making the thumb screw threadedly affixed to the threaded shaft. The brake shoe can be molded onto the depending end of the shaft, if desired. The containers for the tape can be affixed to a wall of the interior of the main housing by epoxy cement or the like.

As will now be obvious to one skilled in the art, the housing and arms of the indexing apparatus can be constructed of any suitable and durable material such as wood, plastic, or metal.

I claim:

1. An index apparatus for indexing cutouts to be formed in a panel with objects which are to be received within the cutouts when the panel is affixed to a structure;

said index apparatus comprising:

a housing, a first measuring arm received within and extending from said housing; a second measuring arm received within and extending from said housing; said first and second arms extending in different directions which are normal with respect to one another;

means for adjusting the effective length of each arm;

brake means for maintaining each arm releasably attached tosaid housing; and, alignment means affixed to and depending from said housing for reproducibly aligning the housing with an object;

transferring means formed on said housing for providing indicia relative to the size of the cutout to be formed on a panel for receiving the object; whereby:

said alignment means can be removably affixed to an object which is to be received through a cutout to be formed in the panel, said arms can be elongated into contact with structure which is to receive the edge portions of the panel to thereby enable the cutout to be formed on a panel in the relative position which indexes the cutout with respect to the object.

2. The indexing apparatus of claim 1 wherein said housing includes an outer plate member and an inner plate member;

means forming a centrally located aperture through each plate member; said apertures jointly forming a passageway through said housing; a U-shaped groove extending across the face of one plate member, a U-shaped groove extending across the face of the remaining plate member; each groove forming an arm receiving passageway when the plate members are brought into contact with one another; said brake means including a bolt; said bolt being received through said passageway of the housing.

3. The indexing apparatus of claim 2 wherein said alignment means including spaced apart pin means extending outwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.

4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said alignment means includes spaced apart pin means extending rearwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.

5. The indexing means of claim 1 wherein each said am is a flexible tape; said tape adapted to be received within a tape containing chamber with the tape being disposed within the chamber in a rolled up condition;

means by which each said tape receiving housing is affixed to the interior of the main housing.

6. The indexing apparatus of claim 5 wherein an intermediate portion of the flexible tape is disposed within the housing; an inside surface of the housing lying closely adjacent to said intermediate portion of the tape; said brake means including a brake shoe; means for urging said brake shoe into contact with said tape to thereby provide an infinite number of locking positions on said flexible tape.

7. The indexing apparatus of claim 6 wherein a wall of said housing is provided with a threaded aperture; said brake means including a shaft having threads thereon threadedly received within the last recited aperture; said brake shoe being affixed to a terminal end of said shaft, the remaining terminal end of said shaft extending exteriorly of said housing to allow the brake to be adjusted.

8. The indexing apparatus of claim 5 and further including spaced apart pin means extending outwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.

9. The indexing apparatus of claim 8 and further including another member having means forming spaced apart apertures therein for receiving said spaced apart pins; a conical shaped outwardly directed portion of said another member adapted to be received within an object attached to structure so as to enable the indexing apparatus to be used in laying out cutouts for receiving objects of other configurations. 

1. An index apparatus for indexing cutouts to be formed in a panel with objects which are to be received within the cutouts when the panel is affixed to a structure; said index apparatus comprising: a housing, a first measuring arm received within and extending from said housing; a second measuring arm received within and extending from said housing; said first and second arms extending in different directions which are normal with respect to one another; means for adjusting the effective length of each arm; brake means for maintaining each arm releasably attached to said housing; and, alignment means affixed to and depending from said housing for reproducibly aligning the housing with an object; transferring means formed on said housing for providing indicia relative to the size of the cutout to be formed on a panel for receiving the object; whereby: said alignment means can be removably affixed to an object which is to be received through a cutout to be formed in the panel, said arms can be elongated into contact with structure which is to receive the edge portions of the panel to thereby enable the cutout to be formed on a panel in the relative position which indexes the cutout with respect to the object.
 2. The indexing apparatus of claim 1 wherein said housing includes an outer plate member and an inner plate member; means forming a centrally located aperture through each plate member; said apertures jointly forming a passageway through said housing; a U-shaped groove extending across the face of one plate member, a U-shaped groove extending across the face of the remaining plate member; each groove forming an arm receiving passageway when the plate members are brought into contact with one another; said brake means including a bolt; said bolt being received through said passageway of the housing.
 3. The indexing apparatus of claim 2 wherein said alignment means including spaced apart pin means extending outwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.
 4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said alignment means includes spaced apart pin means extending rearwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.
 5. The indexing means of claim 1 wherein each said arm is a flexible tape; said tape adapted to be received within a tape containing chamber with the tape being disposed within the chamber in a rolled up condition; means by which each said tape receiving housing is affixed to the interior of the main housing.
 6. The indexing apparatus of claim 5 wherein an intermediate portion of the flexible tape is disposed within the housing; an inside surface of the housing lying closely adjacent to said intermediate portion of the tape; said brake means including a brake shoe; means for urging said brake shoe into contact with said tape to thereby provide an infinite number of locking positions on said flexible tape.
 7. The indexing apparatus of claim 6 wherein a wall of said housing is provided with a threaded aperture; said brake means including a shaft having threads thereon threadedly received within the last recited aperture; said brake shoe being affixed to a terminal end of said shaft, the remaining terminal end of said shaft extending exteriorly of said housing to allow the brake to be adjusted.
 8. The indexing apparatus of claim 5 anD further including spaced apart pin means extending outwardly from said housing and adapted to be received by the recited object, to thereby index the housing with the object to be received through the cutout.
 9. The indexing apparatus of claim 8 and further including another member having means forming spaced apart apertures therein for receiving said spaced apart pins; a conical shaped outwardly directed portion of said another member adapted to be received within an object attached to structure so as to enable the indexing apparatus to be used in laying out cutouts for receiving objects of other configurations. 